Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1887-09-08
PIONEER PREACHING.
DR.. Simmons Tells of the Times
when He Carried the,Gospei TO the
Pacific Coast.

| One of the ablest and most eloquent
pulpit orators in California to-day 4,
Rev. DR.. j. c. Simmons, pastor of the
Methodist Episcopal church south al
Chico says The Sacramento Bee. Las
Sunday evening, in that city, he preach
I ed his thirty-tifth anniversary sermon
telling at length the story of his work
in the vineyard of the Pacific coast. He
is the son of an honored Methodist
preacher of the Georgia conference.
and was born IN Butts county, Georgia.
in 1927. He graduated from Emery
college, at Oxford, Ga. in 1S4S, and
was ordained to preach few days af-
ter receiving his diploma In 1852 he
was sent as missionary to California,
reaching San Francisco in February OF
that year.
The doctor relates that the first OBJ.
jects that attracted his attention upon
stepping from the ship were the i'm
mense gambling saloons, brilliantly
lighted and crowded with men. with
here and there woman seated at la
bic experimenting game. Great
piles of gold lay in utmost profusion on
the tables. Shrewd and well-dressed
gamesters were on hand 10 fleece the
roughly-dressed miners, large numbers
of whom were stalking and loosing their
treasures on the turn of n card. He at
once concluded that here was a field
that needed religious influence, and he
longed to be at work. He was present
and assisted in the organization of the
Pacific Annual conference of the Meth
odisn Episcopal church south in April,
1852, and is the only remaining men,
Der of that first conference in Califor-
mia. The doctor was sent to perform
his work in the mines. His first SER
mon in California was preached in Sac
ramento, where he stopped one day
while on his way to Grass Valley.
He had rough experience from the
day he left Sacramento, but he stood
up bravely. As he left this city he was
homCsick, but his thoughts were soon
absorbed while rolling along in the old
stage coach in admiring the lovely Sac
ramento valley, which was not gemmed
as now, with fine farm-houscS, vino
yards, orchards. and gardens, but only
one wide, flower spangled plain. As
he arrived in Nevada City. ut night,
snow was falling rapidly. The crooked
streets were crowded with miners and
gambling halls were wide open. The
parsonage" where he was to stop
was q rough shed made of Ssh axes"
built to the eud of the church, which
was constructed of the same material.
1t was rather hard to turn into such a
building where the rude blasts of me
,icrras could sweep through, But that
was the style of the buildings all over
the town.
The preacher opened his commission
at Grass Valley on the Sunday follow
ing his arrival in the mines. The
'church" consisted of nothing but the
framework, and DR.. Simmons, set to
work and completed it with his own
hands. His congregation consisted
mostly of men, and few OF them at
hat. II half a dozen ladies were
present it was considered wonderful.
1t was a desperate work trying to
convert men who had gone into the
mines. tasted of the gold excitement,
east off AL restraint and plunged rcck-
IeSsly into anything and everything
that came along. And yet, som, Of
the widest of the men had themselves
been preachers and professors back in
the states.
The doctor travelled from mine TO
mine on foot, aud he was acquainted
with every gold hunter for miles around.
He ate with them, slept with them at
night, but often alone under a tree. He
preached to them on Sundays, attend
ed to them in sickness, and buried their
dead. He preached under frees, in
cabins, in saloons, tenpin alleys, and
gambl,ngs halls. On many occasions
he would stand in saloon behind a
bar, which he would use for pulpit,
while his congregation of miners, all
heavily armed with pistols and knives,
would sit on the whisky barrels while
he urged them to buy gold tried in tn G
fire that they might be rich. Dur
ing these discourses he would often be
interrupted by some drunk or holy ter
ror. who would swagger up to the
bar and growl out: Say. parson won't
you give us drink" Such intensions
usually ended by couple of miners
grabbing up the offender and throw
ing him out the door, and giving signi-
ticant warning by tapping their pistols
that he had better not repeat the trick.
Just as soon as the preacher would end
his discourse the bartender would take
his place behind the bar. and in few
minutes could be heard tho rattle and
| jingle of glasses.
During his visits TO French Corral,
then one of the liveliest camps in the
mountains. DR.. Simmons used to preach
his sermons in a great gambling-hall,
standing upon one of the gaming tab
les. Before the sermon would be end
ed some sport would take his hat and
go through the crowd, remarking:
Boys, the parson can't do all this for
nothing, so you had better ante a
piece"
Alter leaving the mines the doctor
was stationed at Stockton, San Jose,
and Sacramento, respectively, being in
this city in 1862, during the big flood.
Since then he has been in San Fran
cisco, and other important places. He
has preached nearly five thousand SER
mons, besides delivering numberless
lectures and tpeeches without single
years rest.
New and Old Violins.
There is a great deal of nonsense
afioat about the new principle of max
ing violins, by which new instruments